A 2010 feasibility study performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicated that the airport was appropriate for P3, notes Noel Best, principal at Stantec.

Improvements at YFB will include three main components: a new terminal building; a new combined services building to house maintenance and the fire hall; and runway and apron improvements, including a new taxiway and the resurfacing of the runway.

Construction is expected to begin in the spring, with the new facility becoming operational for the public in August 2017.
According to Best, it was important for the government to have a very clean transfer of operational responsibilities.
"They felt it would be better if the consortium was actually running the existing airport and was responsible wholly for the transfer, rather than having the new start-up day also being the transfer day," he explains.

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"Everything has to come in by ship; and if you miss a shipment, you have to fly parts in at great expense," Best says.

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"We're actually cooling the ground," remarks Best.

Improvements at Iqaluit

YFB's new terminal, which will be built on a Greenfield site, is slated to be just shy of 10,000 square meters - three times the size of the existing facility.
The air traffic control tower will remain on the existing terminal building, but the building itself will be repurposed.
According to Best, the existing terminal is in "fine shape" but is too small for the airport's operational needs.
"[The government] wanted an airport terminal building which would meet the demand over the term of the contract, which is 30 years," he says.

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"That's where the culture and technology and sensitivity of the environmental issues all come together," Best explains.

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It will provide a degree of independence from the local grid, which is not completely reliable, and also save energy costs, says Best.